


On the run

by Yuletide (Zebra)



Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-28
Updated: 2013-04-28
Packaged: 2017-12-09 20:31:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/777699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zebra/pseuds/Yuletide
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Their hosts had seemed friendly at first. Now the Captain's on-world and the only way back up to the Enterprise is a clearing off in the woods.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On the run

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shinealightonme](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinealightonme/gifts).



> My heartfelt thanks go to mukkamuck for being a great beta reader.

Tasha used the attacking security guard's momentum to throw him against the wall.

When he stayed down, she stepped over his colleague, whom she'd taken down first, and left the quarters Captain Picard, Data and she had been assigned. The corridor was empty. 

Now came the difficult part, getting out of the compound, while still being slow and noisy enough to keep any pursuers on her track and not on Data and the Captain's. 

Their mission had started so well: a simple hail.

A simple hail from the colony's elders, inviting the _Enterprise_ to the harvest festival and to talk about the colony becoming part of Federation. The computer records had held no hints of potential trouble. Captain Picard had been personally invited and they had found reason to reject that invitation, after Commander Riker had made initial contact. 

Established a century earlier, the colony had been doing well for itself, as _Enterprise_ could easily confirm from orbit. Whenever they entered the planetary shadow, underneath them a sprawling net of lights showed up. Thin in some places, a sparkling field spanning half a continent in others. 

A successful and safe colony, unlike dark and dangerous Turkana IV. 

A colony that gave of a constant stream of old fashioned television and radio signals. They had captured the first broadcasts a day before arriving in orbit. 

A colony that had initially decided not to become part of the Federation, still they had retained the technology for subspace communication. By chance _Enterprise_ had been the closest ship to here them.

When she got back onto the _Enterprise_ , she'd have to get together with Deanna to laugh at the irony in her situation. The two of them had watched a series broadcast from the planet about some strangers who had been invited to a birthday party only to find themselves suddenly held hostage over a decade old testament. 

The security guards which had ultimately tried to detain the _Enterprise_ 's little away team were even using the same fighting style as Tasha had seen in the series' numerous fighting sequences.

She reached the end of the floor, as uniform and unadorned as the _Enterprise_ 's. But unlike the _Enterprise_ , the door didn't lead to just another floor. Instead she had to hold her hand up to shield her eyes from the glare of the sun.

Stopping a few moments, she listened to her surroundings and let her eyes adjust to the light. She heard a slight scrapping sound just around the corner. Someone was trying to sneak up on her. 

Deliberately turning her back to that corner of the building she took a few steps, there was a faint whirring sound, as one of the observation devices on the roof spotted her and tried to follow her movements. Tasha heard the scrapping slightly closer. 

She knelt down, readying to roll behind the thorny shrub next to her, should someone attack. A sharp tug and two stones stuck under the shrub came loose. She stood up, stones in hand, and threw one stone at the observation lens, as if that had been her intention all along.

Her attacker chose that moment to burst around the corner. She turned around, slinging the second stone.

While her stone missed the woman in the lead - the heavy tread had led Tasha to expect a larger target - it hit the man behind at the chest.

But her immediate concern was the security guard now upon her. Unlike the ones guarding their quarters, these wore at least some body armor and seemed better trained. Although as she exchanged punches, it became quiet clear that these guards, too, used the same style of simply boxing and kicking. 

Her stone must have hit true, because of the three guards who had turned the corner, only two were coming at her. Their fighting style lent itself to keeping them at a distance and easily maneuvered. 

Slowly punch by punch and kick by kick, Tasha forced the pair to move where she. For every step she took closer, they'd step back, and for whatever reason neither of them tried to get behind her, instead staying side by side, almost getting into each other's way. They allowed themselves to be herded by her. Further and further back. Always keeping that bit of distance between which kept her from just taking them down.

Till there was no further back, the stocky man who had turned the corner last, stumbled into the thorny shrub and cried out.

The lead guard was distracted for an instant, and Tasha used that moment of distraction to get in reach for a throw. It would have been easier to throw her if she had been in a forward movement, instead of a backward one, Tasha still managed, although the throw wasn't perfect as the guards armor shifted and changed her center of gravity. There was nothing Tasha could do as the guard's head came down on another stone enclosure. 

As the loud crack still rattled in Tasha's ears, the guard's body went slack. 

"Mar!"

The guard who had stumbled into the shrub called behind her. She elbowed him in the stomach when he tried to push past her. He bent over, retching.

In circumstances like these she really preferred her phaser. A phaser set to stun was a far less damaging way to deal with guards foolishly attacking a Federation officer without ranged weapons or suffecient combat training.

Leaving the three guards behind, she took the path into the woods. The path Data and the Captain would have taken trying to reach the one spot in a thirty-mile radius from which the _Enterprise_ could beam them up. 

Tasha was sure that this planet had to offer more capable people than weaponless security guards fighting like show stars.

It was just a matter of time before the other shoe dropped. The question was only whether it would drop on her or on Data and the Captain. Which was the reason Data had gone with the Captain.

She was bait, set to buy them as much time as possible from behind. While, if there really was trouble up ahead, Data was faster and strong then her, and, if the worse happened, was far more likely to survive serving as a living shield. 

And next time she would also not allow herself to be talked into taking the Captain weaponless into an unknown situation, no matter how harmless and friendly the invitation sounded, or how well the first meeting with Commander Riker had gone.

The path was barely that, a small opening between thick shrubs and trees. They didn't even know whether it led to the landing space, they only knew that it led into the right direction and they couldn't very well take the road they'd originally been driven along. Not without calling down a large security contingent to come and extract them, likely inciting a war with the local population. 

Tasha made good speed, no roots crossing her path to make her stumble or branches hanging low and getting in her way. Although, as she jogged along, she saw broken ones here and there, the breaks still bright and glistening with moisture, a clear sign that someone had recently come through. 

She estimated that she was three-quarters of the way through the woods when she heard something behind her. Heavy machinery by the sound of it, forcing their way through the tree. They would likely come up the road, too. At least that's what she'd have done, trying to box in the fugitives. 

An almost inaudible beep from her communicator informed her that Data and the Captain had made it to the clearing where the anti-transporter shield didn't work and were now up on the _Enterprise_. Primary mission accomplished, her only task now was to save herself. Because the Captain would do everything he could to get her to safety, too, even if the situation appeared hopeless. Which it was right now.

The machinery behind her was coming closer. If she kept the same pace, it'd would probably reach her just before she reached the clearing. Still she didn't speed up, keeping her pace even and conserving her strength for a mad dash at the end.

Suddenly she was yanked around. A hand clamped about her mouth, another trapped her arms against her body. She tried to kick her attacker, to not avail. The arms were like clamps, completely unmoving, not the slightest give of a muscle as she strained against her bonds. 

Tasha relaxed and Data let go.

They were behind a tree, Data looking intensely the way she'd come. She could see something moving towards them. The shadows confused her eyes, she couldn't clearly see what it was, only that it was probably a bit taller than Worf and far bulkier. Data held up his hand, all fingers spread. So five of these things they'd have to deal with. Five and closing in fast. 

She wouldn't have made it to the clearing, they were too fast.

Weaponless they'd have to take these things on and didn't even know what they were. 

Even if they could hide in the forest, they'd be found fast, there was no way they could get through the shrubs without leaving a clear trail to follow.

There was only one way now.

Up.

There was a branch, wide and rather stable looking, hanging directly over the path, just out of convenient climbing range. She squeezed Data's arm and pointed at the branch when he looked at her. His gaze went up and followed the branch. And then she was going up. He lifted her effortlessly by her feet.

Getting onto the branch was feasible then and she lay low on it, trying to be as invisible from below as she could. The sun was shining through the canopy. She hoped the dancing sunlight on bright and black parts of her uniform would be sufficient camouflage. 

She could see now what had come up the path. People in exosuits. That hadn't been in the broadcasts.

They wore helmets, but large parts of their bodies where still unarmored, only arms and legs actually supported by the exosuits. The suits apparently made more to assist with speed and strength then with protection. As Data had signed, there were five of them. Each carrying a weapon about as long as Tasha herself. The men and women would never be able to carry these weapons on their own, and Tasha couldn't see any more weapons on them. 

If they'd managed to disable the suits, she and Data had a chance to take them out. It was a large gamble, but better than waiting to be found or the _Enterprise_ getting anxious about them.

The first suit was under her then, she had no time to spare a look what Data was doing, much less coordinate an attack plan with him.

A close look at the suits revealed, that the weapons weren't part of the arm support, but rather attached separately to the exosuit and apparently manually triggered.

The fourth passed under her, they weren't even looking anywhere but the path ahead.

Tasha dropped onto the fifth. the arm and leg guards offering enough holds. She had a relatively secure footing in a split second. Kneeing the man wearing the suit in the gut, she managed to yank the weapon about around at the same time. It moved easily in its bearings. She pointed it vaguely ahead and hit the trigger. 

In front of her, the exosuit was hit with some kind of electric projection hit the exosuit in front of her. Sparking and cackling, the exosuit moved erratically about, effectively blocking the other three from getting a good fix on her.

She didn't even try to remove the unconscious man from her captured exosuit. He was harnessed in and she could use the weapon as it was, no need to waste precious moments on a suit that had proven defenseless against the weapon of the others. Instead she managed to make it fall over backwards. It came to rest against the tree she had had hidden herself in. 

Now hidden half behind the tree, her hand still on the weapon, she targeted again. The exosuit she'd just hit had gone done, no longer moving, instead steaming. 

The other three fired on her. One missing, two hitting the tree, the projectiles embedding themselves deeply into the trunk. The one that had missed was cackling with electricity somewhere behind her, the other two didn't share that feature.

A slight nudge of her weapon had it pointing at the guard whom Tasha was sure had fired the live ammo. Her shot was off target, instead of point center it hit the other's weapon. But just as with the previous one, the electricity given off made the suit go berserk, while its user was unconscious in moments. 

The other two suits tried to keep away from their sparking comrade. 

She was aiming for one of them when Data dove at the one furthest away. He used the same method she had to gain control of the weapon.

Four down, one to go.

Tasha didn't shoot, neither did Data. They had the upper hand, there was no need for further violence.

The final guard looked indecisively from Tasha to Data and lowered her weapon diagonally in front of her.

"Get out of the thing. We don't want to shoot you. We only want to get back to the _Enterprise_ , Tasha told the woman.

With slow movements she complied and started to get out of the harness.

Then she stepped out of it.

Something was off, and to Tasha the following seconds seemed to happen almost in slow motion. 

As the woman stepped down, she kept hold of the weapon and brought it up as she got off. Tasha and she hit the their triggers almost simultaneously. They both hit their targets. Still Tasha kept her eyes on the woman, instead of looking towards Data at whom the weapon had been pointed, or aimed. 

Even if the woman wasn't in the exosuit, her keeping hold of it, meant she got electrocuted alongside it.

When Tasha was sure that the women wouldn't get up for some time, she sprinted over to Data. The projectile hadn't hit him, but just like Tasha's target, he had been electrocuted by being in contact with the suit. 

She couldn't see any outward damage to him and he was no longer in contact with the suit, so she tried to shake him.

"Data? We have to go. Wake up!"

Not even slapping him got a reaction, and she didn't know enough about him to know whether he had been deactivated or just needed someone to repair what ever damage he had taken. She did know however that they couldn't stay here. With some difficulty she managed to hoist him onto her back. He was stiffer than an unconscious human but not as stiff as a board. And he was heavy, she carefully had to think about every step she took and keep her balance, otherwise she would have toppled under his weight. 

Half meter by half meter she dragged him forward. She was security chief of the _Enterprise_ , she would not leave anybody behind if she could, be it human, Klingon or android. She could this, at least the path here was as clear from roots as the previous section had been. She didn't fancy stumbling, because she or Data got caught on anything. In a way it helped that Data was never stiff board nor limp human, it made it easier to drag him and keep hold of him.

She couldn't say how long it had taken her, but finally the path in front of her got brighter and wider. Soon she would be in reach of the _Enterprise_ 's transporter. The clearing still seemed empty, nobody in sight. Which was odd, she had expected to be outflanked.

The final steps were always the most difficult. Data felt like he weighted a ton, but there was absolutely no sense in stopping now to catch her breath. 

Two more and she'd be out of the forest. Tasha didn't know where the shield stopped, or why the clearing was not under it, when the rest of the planet was. But that didn't matter now, she'd make it to the middle if she had to.

She was clear of the woods then, and heard the whirr of exosuits off to her left. The forest had kept them hidden. The weapons came up, they hadn't been trained on her. The guards hadn't known where she was actually there. 

They fired.

Tasha let herself fall forward, Data came down hard on her, the shots flew by over them.

That was it, she couldn't get to cover before they shot again and Data wouldn't provide any either.

She had failed.

Her sight went hazy. She didn't have time for regrets or laments. The triggers being pulled sounded as loud as as a drum.

She felt into nothing.

The ground under her was hard and artificial. A hand was on her shoulder.

"Welcome back, Lieutenant!" 

Commander Riker was grinning at her and helping her up. Doctor Crusher was coming at her with a tricoder in hand. La Forge behind her, his eyes on Data on the pad next to her. The transporter room was filled with members of her security teams, heavily armed, ready to go down and get them up. 

They parted as Captain Picard came through.

She hadn't failed.


End file.
